Village:town Or City

[Tafia]

After visiting many areas over many years I am looking for the pros & cons of where best to settle (I retire here next year)

I think in a Thai village I may become too isolated.

(My GF is a teacher so will be out during the weekday)

Do I need farangs around or the ability to nip into the town or city for a change of scene?

I would appreciate any thoughts you may have.......

Edited October 23, 2007 by Tafia

[ronthompson]

After visiting many areas over many years I am looking for the pros & cons of where best to settle (I retire here next year)

I think in a Thai village I may become too isolated.

(My FF is a teacher so will be out during the weekday)

Do I need Franks around or the ability to nip into the town or city for a change of scene?

I would appreciate any thoughts you may have.......

I have lived in Thailand 2 Years, I have a nice condo in Bangkok, my wife had a nice house in a small village about 14 km from Buliram which we visited every so often. I added a little to the village house on each trip, Air co, fishing lake, many trees and a new kitchen. I have now put my condo on the market since we go to the village for a t least a month and only spend a couple of days in the city. another Frang is in the village, while we get along very well we are not with each other all the time. For me village life is perfect. Perhaps I was too long in LA and Bangkok. Find a small village and make your own little world.

[tracer5050]

I agree my wife is from a small village iI love to be there , a flang has a wife there and come once every 3 or 4 months nice to be able to talk english to someone in full sentences , but i love to be there with the people. I only stay there arounf 30 days at a time then back to BKK . but i will maybe soon more there full time.

[Thaddeus]

The only advice I can give is "try before you buy"

Village life suits me and quite a few others on this forum, but it isn't to everyone's taste. You need to spend at least six months, my opinion, living in any environment before you discover how much you need to adapt and learn if you can go the distance.

[pianoman]

I can only share my thoughts and experiences relating to your choice of Village, small town or City... I have now lived in Thailand for almost 5 years, and have found what works for me...

Village life I found way to boring, and lacking in any stimulation... Plus having the "Family" that close drove me crazy... Of course they were all wll meaning, but constantly stopping in to visit, stay, borrow or whatever.. The lack of convienent shopping for even simple things like you can get at a 7/11....

Big City / Bangkok is just too much... Traffic, conjestion, pollution, ect....

Found my life in Kalasin... Small town, no traffic problems, enough stimulation / activity, small group of Farang Friends, availability (although limited) of Farang Food and of course decent internet connection....

I even spent two years renting in town prior to buying land and building my home, just to make sure that I knew which part of town I wanted to be in...

Pianoman

[Nomad97]

There are many good points in the answers above. Consider also educational needs if you have or intend to have children. Village schools are not the best in the world although they may be the happiest. The other down side of village life is the close proximity to family relatives - many do not have 2 baht to rub together and you and your wife will certainly be under pressure to donate freely to their respective poison (beer Chang or Lao Kao).

My wife's preference was/is to live close to a major town/city (Surin) and to visit the family village once or twice each month, or as the mood takes her. Her village is 35 kilometers away and that seems to be a good distance - not too far away to go home frequently yet far enough away to keep most of the relatives at bay! I must thank her for making the choice for me.

[ignis]

I always find this question rather odd… Surely the question is where do you live now or most of your life.. If you are a City person then to live in a Village would drive you nuts.. Likewise if you’re a country person to live in a City would drive you insane,

Myself most all my life lived in a Village or out in the sticks, there is no way I would have come here to live in a City or Town.. This month it is 4years since living in this house in a Village of 63 houses, The nearest little Town is 7km away I say little as there is 1x Road with 20 different shops + 1x Bank + Town Hall + Wat in it….. In the other direction is a 7/11, small local market, bakery 3km away, with a Post office and Tesco Express another 3km further down that road.

While the house was being finished I had to rent a Condo for 6 months, in Pinklao which is really outside of BKK it was OK for a short time, but then I did drive out to the new house 3 or 4 times per week, 45km North/West

OK there is a down/up side:

In the Countryside you must have a car, max ADSL connection is 256.. on the + side you have clean air, garden, much cheaper cost of living, much cheaper house prices, little traffic, lots of friends as everyone knows every one, everyone helps everyone, I have my 3 dogs and 150 Fish, and loads of flowers and garden to work in. + a 3.2m Sat Dish.

The way things work outside a City is much different, so almost impossible to compare… You give the postman your mail + money for the stamp, there is a Lady that works in the Licensing Dept, so she takes the paperwork and returns home with the new tax disc for the car, across the road she is in insurance so that takes care of car/house/health, 2 doors down is a Bank manager, there a 2 policemen, a lady working in Immigration, 2 military, school teacher, printer, lots of retired people and so on… I am the only farang

[ronthompson]

If possible PM a few people then take a road trip to see what life is like in the small town or village. I did forget to mention that I keep busy with many little projects and I am not bored. But I am lucky Macb helped me a lot, u have to set extended family rules.

We just had a Makro and Big C open in Burriram so shopping is very easy for us.

[mrbojangles]

The only advice I can give is "try before you buy"

Absolutely.

For me, having grown up and lived all my life a "Towny", village life would drive me nuts. Whenever we are back in Thailand, i go upto the village to see the in-laws but after 2 or 3 days i'm craving for farang companionship and all the trappings of living in a town.

Each to their own and so as Thaddy says "try before you buy".

[Tafia]

Thanks guys, certainly food for thought. When I visited the family's village I did think this will drive me nuts, no farangs no one speaks english will be on my own all day and then I consider the city too impersonal, so maybe a strike between them both.....

more thinking me thinks

[ray23]

Well we are all different but what works for me is about 15 Mins outside downtown Udon. The housing complex is primarily middle class working Thai' so they are busy people about forty farrangs living in the area. That pretty much stay to themsleves. It's quite and safe, the wife and I try to go on walks every evening and we are greeted by people all the time. No green eyed envy here as the Thai's have the same things I do. You want to be socialble it's here want to stay to yourself it here as well.

A short ride to farrang land any time you want it, easy to find most foods that you might want. Easy to find english spekers, but aftre five years I have less of a desire for that. But i's easy when I do want it. We are ten minutes from several major hospitals.

For me the best of worlds I can have what a city offers but not the down sides of traffic and noise. The village o life seems to me you are alway on parade and people are envious of you, wih no clear understanding of what it took to get it. I donlt do thing to impress people I do what I find comfortable, but to a village person it probably doesn't look like that. Where I;m at I just blend in and i like that.

We have no family around, I really believe that makes it easier on the wife as well as me. I love the villages adn go out on ride to explore a lot. But I donlt think i could handle living in one. It's reall tempting as there are many really beautiful area here in Issan tha are made o up of small villages. But in the end I want a Cheeseburger from time to time and I don't want to travel an hour for it or shopping.

Some guys really adapt well to village life they seem to be he ones tha have little projects going for themselves that keep them busy. No matter what you decide first year you will be busy learning. But aftre that it beomes day to day life, so choose carefully and try it out before you invest to much in it.

Bangkok no way I might a well move back to Los Angles. Not real crazy about the big tourist areas to much sillines going on. So for me the in between life works best.